Little by little, school year by school year, Egypt has been removing antisemitic passages from its textbooks. Amidst so much unfair criticism of Israel from Egypt both about how the IDF is conducting the war in Gaza, and about Israel’s temporary occupation of the Syrian side of the Golan, some good news about Egypt comes from the NGO Impact-se. The report on revisions in Egyptian schoolbooks, can be found here: “Egypt Purging Antisemitic Content From School Textbooks, New Report Says,” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, December 18, 2024:
Egypt has made significant progress in removing antisemitic and anti-Christian content from its school textbooks, and about 80 percent of Egyptian students in elementary or preparatory education are learning from the “reformed” versions, according to a new report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (Impact-se), an Israeli watchdog group.
The report, titled “Review of Changes and Remaining Problematic Content Egyptian Textbooks: Selected Samples 2023-2024,” explained that Egypt has been striving toward reducing antisemitism in its curricula for several years, having chosen to pursue a “year-on-year” process of reform which will reach higher grade levels over time.
The results so far have been promising. For example, 10 antisemitic passages identified by Impact-se researchers last academic year, including one in which Jews were described as “people of treachery and betrayal,” has been replaced with another “underlining tolerance and coexistence between Islam and Judaism.”
Other changes warrant optimism, according to the report. An 11th grade history textbook no longer teaches that Jews possess an inordinate “love of money,” and a third grade textbook on Islamic education no longer teaches that Jews cannot be trusted to describe the contents of their holy books, an accusation attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. Additionally, a sixth grade textbook now features what Impact-se described as a “rare specifically positive reference to Jews” in which the Constitution of Medina is said to be a shared accomplishment of Muslims and Jews while comparing it to the 1948 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
One reform the report strongly commended was the removal of some texts which encouraged jihad, martyrdom, and religious intolerance. Violence, one 11th grade textbook now says, was a measure of “last resort” in early Islamic conquests.
“Our report also found four problematic examples that have been removed, including a grade 5 Arabic Language grammar exercise teaching that Allah loves the jihad warrior, and a statement from the same textbook declaring that martyrs deserve a great reward,” Impact-se wrote. “A grade 6 Islamic Education textbook no longer glorifies the martyrdom of Muhammad’s Companion of Hamza for his jihad against many idolaters.”
Some concerning content in this vein remains, the authors noted, including the heralding of the martyr as “the most spectacular example of sacrifice” and a section of a grade 11 textbook in which Muhammad refers to “idolaters, Jews, and hypocrites.”…
Unlike Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority has done nothing to improve its textbooks, which still glorify jihad.
Earlier this year, it issued a report describing the ways in which Palestinian curricula teach girls that women are inferior to men while demanding that they sacrifice their bodies and families for “jihad.” Coinciding with Women’s History Month, the report, titled “Gender Inequality in Palestinian Authority Textbooks,” revealed that Palestinian education materials deem women as a problem to be managed by the authority of religion and patriarchy, as valuable insofar as they contribute to the community’s population of terrorists and capacity to wage holy war….
Perhaps, following upon the examples of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, other school textbooks in the Arab lands, especially in the Maghreb, will also be revised to decrease, or ideally to eliminate, antisemitic (and anti-Christian) passages. And some of those countries may also remove, where necessary, the scandalously contemptuous view of females.
For once, it’s good news coming from Egypt, the most populous and influential Arab country. Marcus Sheff, the genius domus of Impact-se, wanted to be sure to get the good news out about the removal of antisemitic passages in Egyptian schoolbooks. One by one those passages are being excised, and as the Scots say, many a mickle make a muckle. So let us hope that the Egyptian text revisers complete their self-imposed task unimpeded by the fanatics who live for the destruction of the Jewish state and the disappearance of “the Jews.” Give credit to the Egyptian authorities, let them know that their efforts at removing antisemitic passages are appreciated, and hope that they will continue to encourage those schoolbook revisers to keep on with their indispensable work.
Troybeam says
Can remove from school all they want however that does not stop teaching hate at home.
Mike says
Some good news from Egypt. Let’s hope they do even more good work to remove oppression and discrimination towards Coptic Christians and Jews, and to forcibly stamp out the abhorrent practise of FGM towards girls and young women.
In the name of the Lord. Amen.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Okay, that’s a start. Now what do they do about antisemitism in the qur’an or in Buqhari, Muslim or Abu Dawad?
James Lincoln says
Infidel,
If all of the hateful anti-Semitic passages were removed from the qur’an, there wouldn’t be much left…
Leonidas says
Islam ( submission)will collapse ,like USSR in 1989,if we DENOUNCE PSEUDO PROPHET MUHAMMAD,who according to his biography( Sira) and traditions( Hadith) was a pedophile( wife Aisha was 9 yo), rapist, murderer, bandit (keeping20% of the booty for himself),liar and sex-slave trader and also LIBERATE THE MUSLIM WOMEN from barbaric Sharia Law.The Koran states women are dumb, less intelligent than men,wives must be beaten for disobedience by their hudbands ,all women will go to hell unless in the last day their husband says he was pleased with her and all women must hide their curves and wear burkas ,so that men will not be aroused to rape them.Islam is a misogynistic ,violent , imperialist political ideology of Arab male supremacy ISLAMOFASCISM(~70%), DISGUISED AS A RELIGION(~ 30%) that strives through violent Jihad and soft cultural Jihad of immigration ( dawa)to subjugate the World.Jihadists are promised, if killed battling infidels-kafirs,) they will go to Paradise to enjoy 72 virgins ,taking along 70 of their relatives regardless of their sins!Withdraw from UN MIGRANT COMPACT ,that falsely claims immigration is a Human Right expecting Western countries to accept and provide for an endless number of muslim illegal immigrants ,thus islamizing them. Muslim “refugees “should stay in Turkey or vast rich Saudi Arabia ,until they can return to their countries.We must denounce islamic Sharia (=way)law of blasphemer,apostate ,homosexual , adulterer and hypocrite executions,misogyny,honor killings by stoning,hand amputations for theft,child brides,girls exclusion from schools,halal meat from tortured animals,clitorectomies,circumcisions,subjugation and segregation of women,burkas and Sharia banning of short skirts,bikinis,dancing,singing,painting ,sculptures of people,dogs,pork,alcohol and beauty contests .Demand gender equality for ALL muslim women.Punish severely those that kill apostates from Islam,blasphemers,adulterers or muslim hypocrites.Islam is incompatible with our freedom of speech, gender equality, values,way of life, Human Rights,
memi says
Unfortunately, Islamofascism, is, indeed an “imperialist male supremacy Ideology disguised as religion” and worshipping as its “god” a pedophile Muhammad who raped a 9-year-old Aisha, his “wife”!
I shudder to think that what you are describing is exactly what will happen in the “New Syria” now that genocidal Turkey’s Sultan Erdogan unleashed his{wanted} terrorist Al-Jolani-Sharaa and his anti-Semitic Islamist jihadists in that poor country!
Absolutely, Islamist cavemen ideology is 100% “incompatible with our freedom of speech, gender equality, values and Human Rights” that we have fought for years to attain.
memi says
Great article by Hugh Fitzgerald and am certainly happy to learn that Egypt is moving the right way in abolishing at least some of the islamist troglodytes’ “pseudo-prophet Muhammad” as a commenter said above!
Christian Orthodox/Coptic churches, when we last visited Giza, Cairo, to see the majestic pyramids during the Mubarek years of “benign dictatorship” (most Egyptians disliked and made fun of him) we saw soldiers guarding the churches and some were Greek Orthodox Christians themselves. We noticed that the icons and liturgical art in these small churches were in phenomenally good shape and cleaned regularly!
When Turkey’s Muslim Brotherhood jihadists took over with Morsi in 2011, thousands of middle-class Egyptians left the country-bankrupt-and took jobs in UAE and elsewhere. Fortunately, Morsi’s oppressive Islamist misogynist Sharia regime lasted only a year & a half and al-Sisis took over. Yes, he is an autocrat but women (like Lara Logan of CBS are not being raped by Islamist jihadist mobs in public squares and at least Orthodox/Coptic Christians and Jews are not treated as “evil infidels”.
Of course, Egypt is a poor country and the millions of poor, uneducated Egyptians in rural areas turn to Islam and Muslim Bros – especially those promoted/funded by Erdogan–and join the Muslim Bros whose goal is, with help from Turkey, to overtake the Egyptian government and make it a new Islamist Syria ruled by jihadists! And i hope and pray that this does not happen!
If the Muslim Brotherhood (funded and promoted as with Hamas) by Turkey succeed to overthrow the al-Sisi government in Egypt, we will have another Islamofascist regime as they have now in Erdogan’s “New Syria” where they burn Christmas trees and murder Orthodox Christians/Copts, Kurds and Jews. We must not let this happen to Egypt, too!